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Importing "GIFT" format files

Basics

GIFT is the most comprehensive import format available for importing Moodle quiz questions from a text file. The text encoding of your

text file must be utf-8 (unless you only use ascii characters). Each individual question in the GIFT file must not contain any blank lines.Each question is delimited by at least one blank line. If you need to represent a blank line in your question you can use the entity \n.

Line CommentsComments that will not be imported into Moodle can be included in the text file. Thiscan be used to provide headers or more information about questions. All lines thatstart with a double backslash (not counting tabs or spaces) will be ignored by the filter.

// Subheading: Numerical questions below

What's 2 plus 2? {#4}

Question NamesA question name can be specified by placing it first and enclosing it within doublecolons (::). If no question name is specified, the entire question will be used as thename by default.

::Kanji Origins::Japanese characters originally

came from what country? {=China}

::Thanksgiving Date::The American holiday of

Thanksgiving is

celebrated on the {~second ~third =fourth} Thursday of

November.

Feedback

Feedback can be included for each answer by following the answer with a numbersign (# also known as a hash mark) and the feedback. What's the answer to this multiple-choice question? {~wrong answer#feedback comment on the wrong answer~another wrong answer#feedback comment on this

wrong answer

=right answer#Very good!

}

Who's buried in Grant's tomb? {

=no one#excellent answer!

=nobody#excellent answer!

}

Grant is buried in Grant's tomb.{FALSE#Wrong, No one is

buried in Grant's tomb.#Right, well done.}

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Specifying CategoriesIt is possible to change the category into which the questions are added within theGIFT file. You can change the category as many times as you wish within the file. Allquestions after the modifier up to the next modifier or the end of the file will be addedto the specified category. Up to the first category modifier the category specified onthe import screen will be used. Note that for this to work the from file: box must be

ticked on the import screen.

To include a category modifier include a line like this (with a blank linebefore and after):

$CATEGORY: tom/dick/harry

or simply$CATEGORY: mycategory

...the first example specifies a path of nested categories. In this cae thequestions will go into harry. The categories are created if they do not exist.

Special Characters ~ = # { } :These symbols ~ = # { } : control the operation of this filter and cannot be used asnormal text within questions. Since these symbols have a special role in determiningthe operation of this filter, they are called "control characters." But sometimes you

may want to use one of these characters, for example to show a mathematicalformula in a question. The way to get around this problem is "escaping" the controlcharacters. This means simply putting a backslash (\) before a control character sothe filter will know that you want to use it as a literal character instead of as a controlcharacter.

Which answer equals 5? {

~ \= 2 + 2

= \= 2 + 3

~ \= 2 + 4}

::GIFT Control Characters::

Which of the following is NOT a control character for

the GIFT import format? {

~ \~ # \~ is a control character.

~ \= # \= is a control character.

~ \# # \# is a control character.

~ \{ # \{ is a control character.~ \} # \} is a control character.

= \ # Correct! \ (backslash) is not a control

character. BUT,

it is used to escape the control

characters.

}

Text FormattingThe question text (only) may have an optional text format specified. Currently theavailable formats are moodle (Moodle Auto-Format), html (HTML format), plain(Plain text format) and markdown (Markdown format). The format is specified insquare brackets immediately before the question text. More information on textformats in Moodle.

[markdown]The *American holiday of Thanksgiving* is

celebrated on the {

~second

~third

=fourth

} Thursday of November.

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DescriptionA description "question" has no answer part at all The next set of questions will concern arithmetic

Multiple ChoiceFor multiple choice questions, wrong answers are prefixed with a tilde

(~) and the correct answer is prefixed with an equal sign (=). If theanswers come before the closing punctuation mark, a fill-in-the-blankline will be inserted for the "missing word" format. All question typescan be written in the Missing Word format.

For clarity, the answers can be written on separate lines and evenindented.For Multiple Choice questions, feedback is displayed onlyfor the answer the student selected.

Percentage answer weights can be included by following the tilde withthe desired percent enclosed within percent signs (e.g., %50%).

Who's buried in Grant's tomb?{~Grant ~Jefferson =no one}

Grant is {~buried =entombed ~living} in Grant's tomb.

Japanese characters originally came from what country? {

~India#Sorry.

=China#Correct!

~Korea#Try again.

~Egypt#Thats not it.

}

::Jesus' hometown::Jesus Christ was from {

~Jerusalem#This was an important city, but is wrong.

~%25%Bethlehem#He was born here, but not raised

here.

~%50%Galilee#You need to be more specific.

=Nazareth#Yes! That's right!

}.

Short AnswerAnswers in Short Answer question-type are all prefixed by an equal sign (=),indicating that they are all correct answers. The answers must not contain a(~). If there is only one correct Short Answer, it may be written without the

equal sign prefix, as long as it cannot be confused as True-False. For shortanswer, feedback is shown only when students input thecorresponding correct answer.

Percentage answer weights can be included by following the tilde (forMultiple Choice) or equal sign (for Short Answer) with the desiredpercent enclosed within percent signs (e.g., %50%).

Who's buried in Grant's tomb?{=no one =nobody}

Two plus two equals {=four =4}.

Who's buried in Grant's tomb? {

=no one#excellent answer!

=nobody#excellent answer!

}

::Jesus' hometown:: Jesus Christ was from {

=Nazareth#Yes! That's right!

=%75%Nazereth#Right, but misspelled.

=%25%Bethlehem#He was born here, but not raised

here.

}

Case Sensitivity

Short Answer questions can be made case sensitive by changing "0" to "1" in thefollowing line.

$question->usecase = 0; // Ignore case

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True-FalseIn this question-type the answer indicates whether the statement is trueor false. The answer should be written as {TRUE} or {FALSE}, orabbreviated to {T} or {F}. For true-false questions, there can be one ortwo feedback strings. The first is shown if the student gives the wrong

answer. The second if the student gives the right answer.

Grant is buried in Grant's tomb.{F}

The sun rises in the east.{TRUE}

Grant is buried in Grant's tomb. {

FALSE #Wrong, No one is buried in Grant's tomb.

#Right, well done.

}

MatchingMatching pairs begin with an equal sign (=) and are separated by thissymbol "->". There must be at least threematching pairs.

Match the following countries with their corresponding

capitals. {

=Canada -> Ottawa

=Italy -> Rome=Japan -> Tokyo

=India -> New Delhi

}

EssayAn essay question is simply a question with an empty answer field.Nothing is permitted between the curly braces at all.

Write a short biography of Ulysses S. Grant {}

Numerical

The answer section for Numerical questions must start with a numbersign (#). Numerical answers can include an error margin, which iswritten following the correct answer, separated by a colon. So forexample, if the correct answer is anything between 1.5 and 2.5, then itwould be written as follows {#2:0.5}. This indicates that 2 with an errormargin of 0.5 is correct (i.e., the span from 1.5 to 2.5). If no error marginis specified, it will be assumed to be zero.

Optionally, numerical answers can be written as a span in the followingformat {#MinimumValue..MaximumValue}.

Moodle's browser interface does not support multiple numericalanswers, but Moodle's code can and so does GIFT. This can be usedto specify numerical multiple spans, and can be particularly usefullywhen combined with percentage weight grades. If multiple answers areused, they must be separated by an equal sign, like short answerquestions.

When was Ulysses S. Grant born? {#1822}

What is the value of pi (to 3 decimal places)?

{#3.1415:0.0005}.

What is the value of pi (to 3 decimal places)?

{#3.141..3.142}.

When was Ulysses S. Grant born? {#

=1822:0

=%50%1822:2

}

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Multiple AnswersThe Multiple Answers option is used for multiple choice questions whentwo or more answers must be selected in order to obtain full credit. Themultiple answers option is enabled by assigning partial answer weightto multiple answers, while allowing no single answer to receive full

credit.

Note that there is no equal sign (=) in any answer and the answersshould total no more than 100%, otherwise Moodle will return an error.To avoid the problem of students automatically getting 100% by simplychecking all of the answers, it is best to include negative answerweights for wrong answers.

What two people are entombed in Grant's tomb? {

~No one

~%50%Grant

~%50%Grant's wife

~Grant's father

}

What two people are entombed in Grant's tomb? {

~%-50%No one

~%50%Grant

~%50%Grant's wife

~%-50%Grant's father

}